Ditmier provided a growler of the Live Oak Hefe to get the ball rolling at Friday night's tasting... I had quite a few pours of this over the course of the night... Thanks Eric.

Hazy lite pale golden... nice head.. sorta creamy looking.

Nose is more estery than phenolic with bananas coming in ahead of the cloves... Smell is very fresh.

Flavor is pretty much the same as the aroma... bready with the above noted components.. I think what makes this a standout in the hefe category is that even though we're all getting it in growlers from Texas.... it is still a whole hell of alot more fresh than the bottles from the motherland. medium body with a fair amount of carbonation that somehow still seems pretty creamy.

Really glad I got to try this again... had a few pours at the GABF.. but this was very nice... I would buy it all the time if it was available, but for now.. I will have to just enjoy my SN Kellerwiess.

On tap the Flying Saucer in Austin, courtesy of a very generous ride from MiguelMandingo. Thanks Mike.

A: Pours a cloudy body the color of grapefruit juice. I _love_ cloudy bodies in hefs. A finger of off-white head recedes into a light film on the brew, and leaves some streaks down the glass. I'd love some more suds, but it's hard to complain about the immensely milky body.

T: Follows the nose very well. A straw-grain flavor, reminding me at times of hay and crackers, with some clove bite up front. Banana and pear are restrained at first, but as the beer warms, they really open up and give the beer a nice roundedness. Bubblegum underneath with light yeast in the finish. A crisp ending that accentuates the tartness, but there is a lightly lingering earthy hop bitterness that I didn't pick up on in the smell or main flavor. What's nice is that the beer is remarkably tasty without having any one flavor dominate; it is balanced and flows over the tongue with ease.

M: Light-bodied, medium-high carbonation. Crisp without being too biting. The finish is slightly dry, which works very well with the crispness.

D: Not the absolute best hef I have ever had -- I still give that honor to New Glarus -- but this is a great example of the style.

Received a hand bottled umm bottle in a trade after the growler broke in transit. Curse you UPS!

Pours a striking glowing gold, almost fluorescent. Very cool looking. Minimal head that quickly disappeared.

Lots of pear and citrus aromas, some banana. No clove.

Beer is very effervescent, well carbonated. Slightly tart. Loads of banana, only a very faint clove taste. Light bready taste. Green Apples, lemons, citrus all over. Some vanilla notes. Moderate body, surprising with all the carbonation. Bit of an odd aftertaste, not a clean finish.

Heard a lot of hype about this, especially from my friends in Texas. I must say, it lived up to the hype. A fantastic American Hefe, balanced, fruity, and unique. I would dare to say this is the best American style Hefeweizen in the US.
Live Oak would have a surefire hit if they released this in bottles, especially with distribution.

Thanks very much to wagenvolks for the opportunity to try and share this with friends. Just as a caveat - this was shipped in some serious August heat and there was a bit of CO2 escaping that occurred due to expansion in the bottle.

Served in my ST tulip. Poured a cloudy orange with an off-white head that quickly dissipated - looked a lot like Tang (the drink of astronauts). Nose was clove, citrus and yeast. Taste consistent with nose, somewhat mellow and muted flavor profile with some citrus astringency lingering at the back. Character changes slightly as it warms with some banana notes coming out as well. Mouthfeel was light bodied with a consistent level of background effervescence - finish was fairly clean and dry. Easy drinking and quite flavorful - perhaps the most drinkable beer I've ever had a 4% abv. I can only assume that this beer is nothing short of outstanding on draught because it was still very respectable considering what it went through to get to me.

Thanks to iconoklazor for leaving this one with me after DLD. Shouldn't have waited so long to drink it!

Pours a very cloudy golden yellow with minimal head. Lots of sediment in the bottle. Probably drinking it a little too cold, but whatever.

Smell is very tart. Wow didn't expect that. There are some more traditional hefe flavors in there, banana maybe, but the sourness definitely dominates. I like it, and I bet it's better fresh before some of the flavors have faded. It's a lot like a lambic but definitely different.

Aroma is very fresh, very bready and spot on for the style. Ripe banana, spices, yeasty goodness. Some light clove.

Silky smooth is the first thing that comes to mind. Really almost creamy. A good amount of depth and a wonderful banana bread flavor. Excellent depth to the spice. Decent little beer. There is almost a vanilla quality that comes with the creaminess.

Quite drinkable and perfect for a hot Texas day. I can see why this is so popular.

I got a growler of this beer in a trade with xpimptastikx, Thanks Michael!

Served in a weizen glass.

Hazed yellow color with a white head that thinned to a ring.
Wheaty and yeasty aroma with spices thrown in.
There is solid malted wheat spices and yeast all the way through.
Medium bodied, very smooth feel and it was very easy to drink.

growler thanks to goatgoat, meticulously and amazingly sturdily packaged. tasted in early april 2009, within one week of arrival. poured into weizen glass.

pale straw color with yellow tones, very hazy. great foamy head, recedes slowly to thinner but consistent layer. great lacing.

aroma is estery, but not quite banana. more on the side of pear and citrus, but even then not quite. melon? some clove and other spice. (coriander?) touch of grassy hops. mild base of bread with hint of yeastiness. very "fresh" and "citrusy" (but not in an american hopping way). something approaching juicyfruit brand bubblegum, but not exactly.

taste: bready and fruity, with that fresh but undefinable character again, approaching citrus flesh, with only a hint of banana. touch of clove? gentle to mild bitterness from noble hops, giving a crisp balance. touch of citrusy acidity, plus more bread and yeast, into a finish with touch of sulfurous fermentation.

despite the hard-to-pin-down characters, and the relative lack of classic german weizen notes (banana and clove), this is very fresh and robustly flavorful. thus while i don't think it is better than weihenstephaner by any means, it definitely ranks up there as one of the better americanized attempts.

I had this on a recent trip to Austin. It was a very light straw color with a very small head. The smell was a sweetness that reminded me of a fruit plate. Banana's, melon, and clove. Very nice! The taste was the same as the nose. Very great balance all the way around. This was a very drinkable beer on a hot Texas day and anywhere else too. I could enjoy alot of these!

A: Hazy light orange with a large white head. Great retention. Plenty of carbonation. Very pretty

S: Excellent. Bready, lemon, orange, mild clove and banana. Great balance and VERY refreshing. As it warms up, the banana grows in prominence.

T: Opens up bready with a pleasing tart twang. Definitely lemony mid palate, very refreshing with a great bread-like flavor. I know "fresh" isn't the best flavor description, but that's what I feel. Dry finish. Uniquely juicy with the combination of bready and lemon flavors lending this beer a unique character

M: A bit bigger than light, this beer is very crisp and the drying, tart finish is very refreshing

Out of a growler.... many thanks to Dyan for sharing this beauty with me.

The beer pours a rich hazy, honey gold flavor with huge (initially) pillowy head and very good head lacing. I assume this beer is completely unfiltered, as I see quite a bit of goop (dead yeast?) floating around near the bottom of my glass. What surprises me right off, is just how thick and viscuous this beer looks, something I rarely see in a hefe. On the nose this beer is nearly as impressive, with a huge aroma of clove and allspice, coupled with some light banana and cinnamon. The flavors on the palate replicate the nose, with just a hint of sour on the finish. The flavor profile includes a good deal of "wheatiness," which is to be expected in this kind of beer. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, but not at all heavy; rich, but never tiring. Somehow this beer is very soooth, but still crisp and light on the finish. Alcohol is very well disguised, and the light sour on the finish enhances drinkability here. This beer is at most moderately sweet, but then finishes with the classic dry, spicey, German hefeweizen finish.

This beer is very impressive and clearly lives up to its reputation and all the hype. Along with the hefeweizen from Block 15, as good a domestic hefe as I've ever had. Very well done.

Gigantically mad ups to xpimptastikx for shipping out a growler of this. There is nothing, NOTHING, more wonderful than having a growler reach you safe and sound. And it's one of them fancy growlers with a special freshness lock cap, too.

Pours as beautifully as any hefe could. Maybe a little better, actually. It's been a while since I've come across a really gorgeous wheat beer, but this one resembles duvel with its cloudy yellow sunshine body and gigantic, foamy white head. It's like frosting, or some kind of delicious soup. Or, actually it's even better than those since it's beer.

Smells just a complex as the very best hefes I've ever had, but maybe a little bit more intense. Cloves, banana, white pepper, the usual suspects, but there's also some wonderful citrus complexities in there.

Tastes even more complex, even more perfectly smooth and balanced. God damn! Wheatmalt dominates, of course, starting off generically beery in a nice way (like Weihenstephaner), moving into a sweeter, spicecake middle of cloves, lemon zest, white pepper, vanilla and orange. This lingers for a while and its ends, amazingly, with a distinct but light hop finish that ties everything together like a cherry on a sundae.

Nothing outrageous, nothing huge, just a perfectly executed example of its style. Believe the hype. I'm honestly upset at myself for not applying to Texas' grad program, now...

Thanks to screach for the chance to try this beer. It was quite the effort on screach's part, the first package broke and never made it. Replaced and sent again, the growler ended up leaking a bit but, fortunately still made it to my hands. And so goes the story...

Pours a hazy bright yellow color, quite cloudy, not much head and lack of carbonation as a result of the leak.

Smell has a crazy amount of banana and clove coming off this thing, don't think I've ever smelled a hefe as strong as this.

Taste is similar to the smell in that the clove and banana is quite prevalent, slight citrus/lemon presence but not nearly as dominating as other hefe's tend to be, some other spiciness ends up hitting the mouth in the far aftertaste, carbonation is almost nil (as a result of the journey) so I'm not entirely sure how much carbonation is usual for this beer.

An interesting hefeweizen since it's not as yeasty or lemony as most hefe's that are available but still has a really strong taste too it, sometimes too much though.

Pours an opaque yellow-orange color with a foamy one-finger white head. The head recedes into a patchy layer on top leaving decent lacing.

Smells of bananas - and lots of them - with good amounts of clove and a small amount of herbal hop aromas.

Tastes very good. Banana flavors hit right off the bat, but are not as intense as the smell would indicate, leaving plenty of room for the wheat to shine through. Midway through the sip slight grassy flavors accompany cloves and all of these flavors carry on through to a slightly bitter finish.

One of the great pleasures of my trip to Austin. On a side note the brewery tour was nice. Only down side was I was with 11 guys for a bachelor party. Review from tap at the Alamo Draft House.

A: The cloudiest heff that I have ever had the pleasure to see. A nice bright golden color with some yeast floating around in the glass. Decent amount of head for the style as well.

S: Spot on. Tons of banana and clove. The wheat is there and is fairly strong as well. A touch of bubblegum in the finish.

T: God damn this is nice. Everything you want in perfect balance. The wheat and the yeast. Not too much banana not too much clove.

M: It was a little thick and stuck to my throat on the way down. While a little bit off for the style I found it enjoyable.

D: I am pleased to say I drank the shit out of the beer while in Austin. Just a great beer. I would session this then stab you to get some more. The BEST example of the style I have ever had. Have not been to Germany yet though....

On tap at the Flying Saucer / Fort Worht. Cloudy and bubbly. Thick head that sticks to the sides. Straw yellow. Banana in the nose, some cloves too. A bit of peppery spiciness too. Taste is similiar to the smell, but more banana on the tongue then in the nose. Mouthfeel is nice and creamy. This beer is absolutely delicious.

First off, I would like to give a big thanks to xpimptastikx for this growler! Thanks, Michael!

Pours a cloudy straw yellow color with a two finger white head. The head is slow to fade, but leaves virtually no lacing.

The aroma is full of cloves and yeast with some ripe banana in the background. The smell is sweet with a twinge of peppery yeast. I like it.

The flavor runs the same lines as the smell. Cloves, bready yeast, hint of black pepper, and banana is more noticeable in the taste. Nice combination that has the cloves and spices fading into the other flavors. Nice.

Solid medium bodied mouthfeel with good carbonation and a touch of slickness to it. The drinkability is amazing. Very refreshing brew that I could sip on all day. Nice job, Live Oak!

A: This beer pours a perfect 2 finger head without the bartender even trying. It is golden, orange, and hazy in appearance. Probably the best I've ever seen a hefeweizen look. Lots of nice carbonation and bubbles pouring from the bottom of this one. The only thing that would have made it any better would have been more lacing on the glass. Good, but not perfect.

S: Lots of lemon zest as well as other citrus in the nose. The clove is very present. Some people have said banana is very forward in this one. While it is there it's certainly not standing out like in Aventinus, Weihenstephaner Hefe, or others which are highly known for that banana signature. I sometimes find that off-putting so for me this one smells exceptional. Clean, crisp, tart, citrusy, clove spiciness, and subdued banana.

T: Wow. That was my impression on first tasting this. I was driving in the car thinking of how to describe this one today and the analogy came to me. It's like listening to a well-recorded piece of music on a VERY good speaker. All of the elements are there, perfectly balanced and none outshining the others. This hefe is tart like a Schneider in the perfect way, spicy and mild notes of banana like a Weihenstephaner, and has the great citrus notes like Julius Echter. For me this is the perfect hefeweizen. It was just kegged yesterday so it was tapped the same day I had it and god it's good. Even the foam on top tasted amazing. Normally I just try to drink through most of the foam, but on this one I wanted to actually ingest it.

M: Perfectly carbonated, meaning there was a lot of it. It's slick and oily (good for me), slightly creamy, nicely carbonated, and awesome. If it was a little creamier in the mouth it would be a 5.0.

D: Absolutely off the charts. I think I could drink more of this particular beer than any beer I've ever sampled. I tend to drink multiple beers in a given evening, but when this is available I will drink it all night and not be upset about it in the least. If I could give this a higher score it would get it.

When people talk about their favorite beers you often don't know what they mean or what their perspective is. Maybe they've only tried 10 different beers in their life. Compared to other BA's I've had a relatively small amount (probably 250 different beers) but this is one that absolutely lives up to the hype. It's tart, citrusy, has a slight wheat backbone so as not to be heavy, banana, clove, spice, perfect carbonation, smells delicious, looks great. There is no one area where this beer falters. Could it be improved? Maybe. For me this is a top 3 beer without question. I will be having more of this while it's available on draft in Dallas.

Pours a very hazy golden yellow with a short-lived one inch white head that recedes to nothing fairly quickly and leaves no lacing.

The aroma is much citrusy than I expected with a big dose of tart lemon aromas and even a hint of funk. The typical wheat presence of bananas and bubble gum sweetness are definitely present but take a bit of a back seat. Very unique nose for the style.

The taste is even more tart than the aroma with a huge lemon zing up front that hardly allows the sweetness of the wheat to come through at all. The finish is dry and acidic with more than a hint of funk lingering in the aftertaste.

The mouthfeel is a little slick with low carbonation, likely due to this being from a handbottle.

This is one of the more unique hefes I've had and while I do like it, I really think there is a bit too much tartness and funk for this to be a world-class version of the style. Maybe it was the handbottling, but I was a little underwhelmed and it tasted a little off.

EDIT 5-8-09: Poured from a growler and it became very clear that the bottle was, in fact, off. There was none of the off-putting tartness from the hand bottle and the aroma and taste were almost perfect representations of the style - a great balance between light lemony citrus, fresh bananas and spices. A great beer.